As a teen, I fell in love with Anne Rice, probably earlier than I should have. Reading The Witching Hour at a very young age. I loved the graphic, gothic allure books like that offered. In my twenties, I moved on to smuttier reads. That is when I discovered Charlaine Harris. She has mastered the blend of fantasy and romance with a splash of suspenseful thrills.
Books like these became a staple in my everyday life. As I grew older, my taste in literature changed from time to time. I now enjoy reading just about any genre, but there is one thing I prefer not to read: long series. Not that I haven’t enjoyed book series in the past, but the older I get, the more I realize how little time I have left to consume all the books. And there are a lot of books on my TBR list. Hence why I tend to write mainly standalone novels.
As my reading evolved, romance and fantasy became less desirable to me, but gothic novels never lost my interest. The love for that genre fussed with my love for horror and eventually gave me the desire to write my own Southern Gothic horror novel.
Que the birth of The Chambermaids! But first, I needed something to spark an idea, a story, an interesting character or two. I can’t go off my real-life interactions; everyone there is as boring as watching paint dry. Okay, maybe watching paint dry isn’t all that bad. No offense to anyone in my real life, you all agree, and you know it.
Like many ideas, there was one sitting dormant in my mind, just waiting for me to allow it to bloom, grow, or, in this case, fester.
Many years ago, I read or heard about a story (unsure where I originally heard it, could have been a book, could have been a documentary) that stuck with me, a story that I could not stop thinking about. The Papin sisters were two maids from France. Just thinking about them again gives me chills. They had a troubling upbringing, but managed to gain work as maids at a young age with the same family, keeping them together. And they were close, maybe a little too close. On February 2nd, 1933, the two sisters worked together to brutally murder their employer’s wife and daughter. I will not go into details; it was wild! After confessing to the murders right away, one of the sisters died at a young age, while the other went on to live a long life, even finding work as a maid again. Can you believe it? She murdered the family she worked for, then gained employment again, working for other families. Crazy! Luckily, she never killed again. At least not that anyone knows of.
The scandal and speculation that has been passed around about these girls is fascinating, at least to me. It has been rumored that they also shared a romantic relationship with each other, which, while disturbing, is also wildly intriguing. It is safe to say they had a tremendous influence on my Malkowitz sisters. I highly recommend you look into their story. Look into them after you read my book and see if you notice any similarities.
A more recent influence on my inspiration for The Chambermaids was a very well-known movie. At least if you are a horror fan, you should have heard of this film. And this is not a story based on true events or true crime. It is completely fictional, just like my book. The Witch, released in 2015, stars a young Anya Taylor-Joy. The despair, the isolation, the suspicions, the pure magnetism of all the evil entities it represented. Absolutely fascinating. Watching that family unravel was intoxicating. No, I’m not crazy, just a little morbid.
This movie helped me come up with a time and setting for which my story would take place. Even though the two are set in different countries and more than two hundred years apart, I borrowed a lot from the setting of The Witch. I knew I wanted to make it a historical. That was a given. The Witch contained isolation, destitution, and destruction of something once beautiful. Wilber and Elouise are stuck in the middle-of-nowhere Texas, once a wealthy couple, now left with very little, but they still have each other. That is, until a threat tries to separate them. The uncontrollable downward spiral is evident in both of these tales.
Sinister forces, evil promises, unnatural accuracies. These are all things that fill the pages of my latest book. They are also things that can be found in everyday life, on the news, in our homes, anywhere if you are looking for them. And if it is something you enjoy in your fiction rather than your family, I recommend you snuggle on the couch and watch The Witch, tune to your favorite true crime podcast to hear about the Papin sisters, and grab a copy of The Chambermaids, but make sure you keep your lantern lit.
About the author…
Leigh M. Hall is an award-winning writer of several dark and gripping novels. Her debut, Girl Bully, is a bestseller. Book one in The St. James Saga: Within These Walls was a finalist for the Killer Nashville Reader’s Choice Award in 2023. The Broken Sister, a standalone novel, was also up for a Reader’s Choice Award in 2024. Her next release, The Chambermaids, won a Claymore award for Best Southern Gothic and is currently available for pre-order. Right about now, she is probably floating in a pool, soaking up the Texas sun, and arguing with fictional characters. Make sure you visit her website at Leighmhall.com and sign up for her newsletter so you can get the scoop on all future releases.
Facebook: @authorlmhall | Instagram: @leighmhall | TikTok: @authorlmhall
The Chambermaids
New couple moves to inherited home brimming with dark secrets
“Slewfoot” meets “The Haunting of Hill House” in historical Southern Gothic horror
Available everywhere on 11/11/2025
Claymore Award Winner for Best Southern Gothic
Wilbur and Elouise Saxton are forced to move south after losing their fortune following the Civil War. Hot-headed Wilbur was not happy about the adjustment, but his wife is glad to finally return to her home state. At least she was until they arrive at the home her late uncle left her, and find it in much despair. It also comes with a dark secret, something her family hid from her for good reason.
When two strange women knock on their door offering to help the couple, claiming they know the land more than anyone, those secrets unfold. While Elouise loses her mind, Wilbur is already lost under a spell cast by their young, charming chambermaids.
What was supposed to be a dream come true is slowly turning into a nightmare.
Elouise must fight not only for her life but for her husband’s as well. Will her days ever return to normal, or was this the future assigned to her all along? Did she ever have a choice?
An Interview with Leigh M. Hall
- This is your first historic Southern thriller. Do you plan to continue writing in this genre at all?
It is my first, and I do not plan on it being my only. I am not currently working on another historic or gothic story, but I have ideas.
- What inspired you to explore a new genre and write this novel?
Since I write what I want to read, I decided to add one of my favorite genres to my catalog. Given the setting and period change, it was a challenge, but one I had a lot of fun with.
- Your main character enters a new home with her new husband only to reveal its dark secrets. Is Elouise inspired by anyone?
This will be a short answer, no. However, I did enjoy being inside her head for as long as I was.
- Your book is captivating and reads almost like a movie in our heads. When you were writing, did you picture any specific actors playing your characters?
So several factors inspired this story, but one stuck with me almost all the way through. I did not picture actors; I did picture a director. I am a huge M. Night Shyamalan fan and kept imagining that he would put this story on the big screen one day.
- Did you have to conduct any special research to help you write about these characters?
Not really. I had to ensure that I was true to the time period in both dialect and historical accuracy. However, since they are relatively isolated, there wasn’t much research required beyond that.
- What is next for you as a writer?
I am currently polishing up a stand-alone domestic thriller, which will release in 2026. Then I have a project going on with a group of authors that is part of a shared universe. I don’t want to talk about that one too much as I haven’t finished my first draft yet, but the series is called Bleeding Hearts Valley.
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